Part IV: The Infectious Connection

by Joanne Silberner
Long Description More than half a century ago, an Irish physician named Denis Burkitt moved to Uganda and opened a medical clinic. He was struck by the large number of children with grotesque facial swellings that often grew large enough to choke and kill. In Seattle, Washington, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are trying to figure out how viruses, such as the Epstein-Barr virus, cause cancer, like Burkitt’s lymphoma. Their goal is prevention, to break the link between the virus and cancer.